Speak With Your Heart
by Child at Heart Forever
Summary: Sonic Colors adapt. The doc's latest plan may have some people fooled, but when the freedom of innocent planets and certain colored aliens are being threatened, Sonic's certainly not going to buy it. The possibilities remain endless, so if Sonic can just reach for those stars, then maybe everything will turn out okay.
1. The 'Stache Heard 'Round the World

**This adaption was supposed to be finished back in February, but after having creative differences with _myself, _I planned to just scrap it and spare myself any impending turmoil. But, after gaining some inspiration from friends and gifting myself with the goal of getting this posted on this exact date (;D)...I realized this story isn't so bad after all. About time Unleashing Sonic got its sequel! **

**The most I can ask of you is that you simply enjoy. ^^**

* * *

.:Speak With Your Heart:.

_Heh…it's almost kinda funny._

You take a run one day, with your best friend tagging along, and you come across an elevator plunked in the middle of nowhere.

So naturally, you wonder to yourself: "Should I take this, and see what it goes?"

The answer? Of course dude!

_Especially if the keys are left in the thing- that's just an invitation to party! _

Because while the elevator _might_ take you straight into the middle of an evil plot that you'll probably have to stop, it also just might take you to another great thrill of your life, and some great new friends!

You know you won't get this opportunity again- you step into the elevator that reaches all the way up to the stars and wait to see where it takes you.

_That first step shows that you're willing to take a chance on today._

. . .

So here I am, standing in an elevator with my no-longer-so-little buddy, and I feel like we've been trapped in here for ages. No matter how many times Tails tried to assure that we were moving at an incomparable speed (especially for an elevator), I was pretty confident that **I** was _more_ than comparable.

"I could've ran up the side of this thing and be there already," I mumbled, with Tails only shrugging lightly in return. "…that is, wherever 'there' happens to be."

We were left in a comfortable silence, slowly nearing our destination. I knew we had to be close when the exotic colors of lights started reflecting on the glass from above us.

"Hello, happy people!"

_I should've known right then and there that something was definitely fishy._

It was also when we became close enough that we could hear HIS voice. The sound sent a shiver of urgency down my spine, but there was no reason to panic. Maybe I was just hearing things-

"Buckle up as Eggman's Ultra-Accelerating Space Elevator whisks you to an interplanetary wonderland of fun!" the PA System continued to blare, and after that, there was no mistaking it.

_Wherever we were going was under control of Eggman. _

"I still can't believe somebody was dumb enough to leave the keys in this thing!" I sighed, shaking my head. "It's like Eggman's _begging_ us to sneak in and trash the place!"

But to be honest, I was glad Eggman reared his ugly mustached-mug again. He had been acting much too quiet for far too long, longer than any absence before, and now I knew why. He was building this…and there probably wasn't anything good about it.

_I hope I don't develop some sort of amusement park paranoia from this…_

"M-Man, this thing's got c-c-crazy fast acceleration!" Tails suddenly gasped, eyes bugging out of his head and clutching what he could grab of the walls for support.

I gave Tails a look and raised an eyebrow. "You call _this_ fast?"

The look Tails flashed me afterward as he grabbed his weak stomach told me more than enough, so I coughed and left him be. The only sounds that reverberated within the elevator after that were Tails' winces, the elevator's soft purrs as it made its way to our destination…and Eggman's obnoxious voice.

"This amusement park has been constructed _entirely_ out of a sense of remorse for my past transgressions, and is in no way associated with any sort of evil plot or premeditated misdeeds."

I rolled my eyes, not believing Eggman's projected words for a second. "Well, _that's_ a relief."

"Your next stop- the Tropical Resort! There you'll find breath-taking views from our giant Ferris Wheel, amazing deals in the shopping mall, and constant risks of bodily harm."

"Ooh, Tropical Resort!" Tails exclaimed, starting to bounce a little with excitement in a stark contrast to how he was just seconds ago. "Maybe this place won't be half bad!"

"Maybe," I replied nonchalantly, arms laced behind my head while closing my eyes. "Yeah, I can see it now- we'll be so busy with the savings at the stores that we _won't_ encounter any of those bodily harm risks."

Tails opened his mouth for an intelligent reply, but was taken aback by my sarcasm somewhere in the process. He gave me a look; I cracked an eye open and returned it with a smirk and a wink.

. . .

When the elevator finally came to a stop, I was out before the door had even fully opened. I sprung out to embrace not being trapped in a box while Tails stumbled out looking pretty pale. After pacing around and stretching my legs, the two of us took in the surroundings.

_Unfortunately, there was only a single word to sum up the sights: incredible._

It was merely one section of the park, and I could already tell that Eggman wasn't kidding. The area looked a lot smaller on the way up, but once you were inside the resort, it was _huge_! Hover cars were flying in all directions; several buildings and attractions lined the paths, and large neon signs lit up everything, which were very capable of drawing people in with their bright spontaneous colors…

_And it looked like there was plenty of room for me to run._

And suddenly, I was torn with the desire to just get lost in the area and have fun while doing it, and my suspicions about Eggman. A guy doesn't waste time building an amusement park in space just to say he's sorry. A card and some flowers would do the trick much easier.

_However, this _was _Eggman we were talking about. Over the top was more of his style. _

Something was telling me not to let my guard down too much, but I couldn't help being overtaken with the possibilities and the unwavering desire to see every inch of the resort. I was still thinking it over when Eggman's voice rang out again over the intercom.

"Welcome to Eggman's Incredible Interstellar Amusement Park! A single day pass grants you unlimited access to all five park areas!"

"He can sound as chipper as he wants," I announced, folding my arms and staring at the sky. "I don't trust any park with his name attached."

"Aw, lighten up Sonic! This place looks fun!" Tails replied lightheartedly, turning his head in all directions to get an eyeful of everything. I narrowed my eyes and shook my head.

"Oh right, Tails. Because Eggman's just the type to build a place where people can have fun."

Tails gave me a disapproving look. "I know it sounds unlikely, but do you see anything suspicious around?"

"I'm sure I'll find plenty soon enough," I instantly bolted off, racing down the golden road. "Let's go!"

"Sonic! You don't even know what you're getting into!" Tails shouted after me, but I was already gone, pulled away by the overwhelming sense of anticipation.

. . .

Regardless of the somewhat turn-off description of the Resort, it was true; the place did look like a ton of fun! The surroundings were very attractive and it had such a colorful atmosphere to it…but I still wasn't quite ready to let down my defenses. Anything Eggman did had_ something_ to do with bad intentions.

_Except this décor- it was fantastic!_

I was tearing through the paths of the resort, trying to see everything that I could. Confetti dropped from above like rain, "Welcome" signs plastered every open space, palm trees and other vegetation grew along the sides of the paths, but even with all the brightness in the park, it paled in comparison to the sight of my home planet shining among the stars.

"Cool," I whistled in a single breath before smirking. "It looks a lot nicer when it's not shattered into pieces."

The world had its own blue aura about it, glowing more brilliantly than all the stars combined in my opinion. I smiled lightly as I ran- I loved my planet, and everything about it, from the vast terrains to run through, the people that inhabited it, and right down to the color. There was hardly a bad thing that came to mind when I thought about it.

"But forget about that for now!" I exclaimed, leaping into the air on a single bound and alighting on a grind rail. "Let's go!"

As I cruised on through, golden sparks flying at my feet, Eggman's voice echoed throughout, and this time, it was something far less intelligent than it had been before.

"Please refrain from throwing coins, trash, and small children into the reflecting pools."

_I should hope no one tosses small children in there!_

A bit caught off guard by Eggman's announcement, I jumped off the rail appearing a little dazed. Not paying attention, I had started to rocket off, only to crash into a capsule of some sort. I tripped over it in an overdramatic fashion, hitting the floor and looking on groggily as the capsule popped open.

"Ow…did some kid drop a prize in the middle of the street or something?" I grumbled, flopping onto my back and moaning. I hardly had a chance to pull myself together when a group of white floating things started hovering above me.

_Think I hit my head too hard. _

"What in the world…?" My voice was laced with confusion as I stood back up, rubbing the sore spot that had been conceived when my head hit the ground. The creatures resembled squids, but they looked nothing like anything I'd ever seen before.

However, they were_ really_ friendly.

"H-Hey!" They started spinning around me, making these weird high-pitched babbling sounds. I couldn't understand a word they were saying, but I could definitely tell they were happy and tickling me. "Cut it out!"

Eventually, their tickling did stop, but this was replaced by them suddenly turning into energy and confusing the heck out of me. They swirled around me before disappearing, and I didn't have a clue as to where they went until I suddenly felt the energy coursing through _me_…

_It felt like Chaos Energy, only…softer. Lighter. Like someone had injected a rainbow into my veins…and it made me feel one hundred percent more hyperactive. _

"Woo hoo!" My speed suddenly spiked, a spectrum of colors blazing from beneath my feet. All the lights and buildings seemed to merge into one continuous sight, and all the sounds of the park started to become warped. Not that much different from when I ran without the influence of weird creatures, but…

"What the…what did those things do to me?"

The sensation didn't last forever, with my hyperactive feeling dying out and the creatures emerging out of me. I slowed down considerably and stared at them curiously, but they just giggled in their strange voices and took off into sky. While they appeared pleased with me, something about them was…scared and worried, and I had felt it when they had become one with me- erm, so to speak.

"I'd be freaked out too if I was in captivity," I mused to myself. "Which brings the question as to why they were captured in the first place…and how they did that to my speed?"

I kind of wanted the creatures to come back- the thrill they gave me was like being on a sugar rush without having the crash afterward! In fact, I was still feeling some of the after effects as I ricocheted off balloons, puncturing them with quirky pops and returning back to my feet.

"The unfiltered starlight from the lovely constellations is full of deadly radiation. Help yourself to our complementary SPF 3000 Starblock, and by complimentary, I mean quite expensive…"

"_Typical Eggman,"_ I thought to myself, not bothering to comment aloud.

Speak of the egghead, I shouldn't have been as surprised as I was when I came across my first encounter with some robots. Three of Eggman's Egg Pawns were standing smack in the center of the road waving "WELCOME" signs around!

_Personally, all this "WELCOMING" was making me feel nauseous._

A robot was still a robot, so I curled up and performed an Action Chain on the three of them loitering around. I almost felt bad since they really weren't hurting anybody, but once three white creatures flew out of their metal remains, my mind instantly changed. The realization struck like lightning, and my expression briefly twisted up into a scowl.

"He's using these creatures to power up his robots?" I exasperated aloud. "He's up to some of his old tricks, if nothing else…"

_Eggman always did have a bad habit of using cute creatures to fuel his creations. _

Disregarding the thought for the moment, but certainly not letting it go, I used the Boost power the creatures had gifted me with to blast forward with extra power. A few rings that were scattered around came flying at me, practically collecting themselves! It was like I became a magnet or something of the sort… and it was impressive.

"Maybe there's more to these powers than I thought…"

I leaped off a small ledge in a flurry of colors, springing into the air and locking my sights onto a flying purple robot. Smirking, I threw myself at the Spinner, stringing a long chain of attacks as I demolished its floating buddies as well.

"The foliage you see was pilfered from various environmentally fragile planets," Eggman's voice rang out again just as I had landed and started admiring the vegetation again. "…Please enjoy them as they are the last of their kind."

_You've gotta be kidding me! _

I ran over a dash panel and found myself on a new grind rail, complete with a view looking out a giant window with the entirety of the planet in sight. I whistled as I whisked by- there was no saying that wasn't way past cool!

"It really is nice." An uncontainable smile crossed my face, and if I didn't think there was something suspicious going on in this park, I'd round up everyone on the planet and get them on the elevator stat, just to witness that marvelous sight!

_Heh heh, I bet I could convince Knuckles to come, if there was some sort of rock-babysitting service in the resort. _

I couldn't help but snicker to myself, the smirk not faltering when I approached another pack of Egg Pawns. These ones weren't advertising welcome mats like the ones before them…meaning that when they saw me, they ran in to attack.

Yawning, I simply stood where I was and neatly folded my arms behind my back, a daring look darting across my face.

"Aw, I'm actually disappointed. Your friends gave me quite the welcome wagon before, and now you plan on tearing me limb from limb. So distasteful!"

One of them took the lunge; I swiftly spun out of the way and proceeded to kick it in the back. It stumbled forward and rolled over the edge while its friends were suddenly having second thoughts. I turned to face them, put on the biggest grin I could muster, and cocked an eyebrow.

"Don't tell me you're afraid of _that_. Hasn't Eggman programmed you with the knowledge that I can do _much_ worse?"

The Egg Pawns literally exchanged a glance, turning back to where I stood to find me no longer there. The one on the right met with a headful of my quills, the one on the left was smashed with both my fists. They both twirled around in defeat, but I struck them each once more to really put them out of commission.

"Please refrain from teasing the robots, as they are very sensitive and require expensive maintenance."

_Sensitive_? _No wonder they were so easy to tear through._

Six creatures came out of the robots; seemingly thanking me by the way they were rapidly nodding their heads. I just grinned in return, catching three more of my new friends joining the others out of the corner of my eye. I guessed that they had come from the robot I had careened over the edge.

"It's okay you guys- I was happy to help," I assured, but before I could convince them that it was all cool, all nine creatures transferred into energy and gave it to me. "Whoa whoa, wait-"

Boom.

Within a single second I was running, and the crystal clear image of the buildings, signs, flying cars, and the sky quickly started looking like it had been thrown in a blender and streaked across a blank canvas. The sounds became warped once again, but I didn't care- I was going fast, I was free, nothing was holding me back, and with the powers of my newfound pals, I felt as though I could go forever.

_I've tried running forever- but a 'hog has to have his naps and chili dogs sometime, you know. _

I charged over a ramp, becoming airborne for a few moments before dismounting on the path once again. Another rainbow of light flashed from where I once was as I utilized the Boost Power I'd obtained. If I actually ran into a creature that didn't automatically disappear afterwards, I'd have to say thanks!

"Please do not be concerned if you encounter any screaming aliens. The screams are how they communicate. Really, I promise."

"So those things are aliens, huh?" I wondered aloud, popping another plethora of balloons. "That explains why I haven't seen them before-wait a second…what the heck does he want aliens for?! And how did he manage to gather such a large amount of them as well?"

Ooh, when I returned to Tails, I'd be sure to feed him with all this proof that the doctor was still off his rocker. In the meantime, I was going to enjoy all the park had to offer.

_Hey, if Eggman was going to give away some free entertainment, who was I to turn it down? I'd be kicking his butt in the end anyway, so why not make the most of it along the way?_

"Yeah!" I cheered, running through a loop in the road before flying off another ramp. I noticed a huge neon-colored Ferris Wheel in the background, with "ENJOY" sitting in the center of it. Something seemed sort of off about it…but it was hard to judge when you were doing flips, tricks, and splits in midair.

"Good! Great! Awesome! Outstanding! Amazing!"

Once I finished my midair performance, I touched down on a yellow-orange grind rail and found myself flying over the rest of the park. From this height, I could see large oval-domed buildings, spotlights painting the sky, and hot air balloons taking off in celebration. Eggman really went all-out with this, I had to admit…

_I could just imagine him arrogantly basking in the glory of it all, taking a large bow in front of a huge crowd of people…_

I flipped off the edge of my current rail and onto another. It swerved around a huge fountain that looked like it was made out of tropical citrus fruits! I instantly started simpering at the sight.

"Now THAT'S tasteful, heh heh."

The rail then started going straight, right through large flashing pink and blue rings. Also placed on the center rail was another container of apparently aliens, so I swapped rails and rescued them again.

"Well, hi!" I exclaimed, having a new trio of aliens celebrate around me. "I have a feeling that I'll be running into your kind pretty often, so we might as we get acquainted!"

The aliens clearly agreed, and I was ready this time for their power-up. I went soaring on that grind rail, everything seeming to be surrounded in a hazy rainbow aura as I grinded around in a loop and went soaring off the end.

"Whoa, that was sweet!"

_I wanted to do it again! _

I continued running through the park, my opinion of it growing better by the second. It was _Eggman _I had to be wary of, not the place he built. Of course, if there was something evil under the surface then my opinion would change…but hey, there was no proof of the actual_ park_ being evil yet, was there?

"Please feel free to leave all your valuables in your vehicle during your stay here at Eggman's Incredible Interstellar Amusement Park, as they will be perfectly safe. In no way will roaming bands of robots break into your vehicle."

_Eggman was certainly saying "please" a lot, huh?_

I rushed over a ramp again, taking off into the air a second time and performing another series of tricks. I did a simple flip which was good, another flip which was great…I also did the splits which were awesome, struck a pose which was outstanding, and several tricks which were amazing! Feeling proud of myself, I then gaped when I ended up on yet another grind rail.

_It was official, I loved this place. _

"All right!" I cheered, jumping through a rainbow loop and collecting a set of rings. I flipped between the three rails that were at my exposal, finally settling for the middle one that shot me through three more rainbow loops and took me to a giant capsule that kept a whole horde of aliens in captivity. As I jumped into the center button to free them all, I heard Eggman's voice a final time-

"Please refrain from foiling evil schemes, plots, and/or plans while inside the park. Foiling is strictly prohibited."

_I guess I was going to have to break a few rules then!_

. . .

I kept up my trek through the park, since there was still a ton of things to see and do. I ran around a large flashing fountain hyperactively before running off with my hands in the air.

_Tails wouldn't miss me for _too_ much longer…_

My feet plodded over a dirt section of the path before jumping against a spring, ricocheting off another one, and being propelled through a rainbow loop onto the next ledge. I sprang upward and leapt onto a platform, glancing to my left and eyeing the Ferris Wheel again. I was a lot closer to it than I was last time, but I still couldn't figure out what was so shady about it.

"What's also shady are Eggman's motives," I pondered to no one in particular. "He's got aliens held up in containers and in his robots; I bet he's lying about being remorseful…"

_I knew not to trust him when he said things like that from past experience, for sure…_

"Would the owner of a white hovercar-shaped like an egg please report to the front desk? Your car has been broken into. Repeat. Would the owner of a white hovercar-shaped like an egg please report to the front desk? Your car has been broken in- Wait a minute, what the heck?!"

Anyway, with Eggman's random shouts on his microphone interrupting me once again, but giving me a good laugh, I kept going. I whirled through another loop in the road and ran over falling platforms, ending up in another dirt area with two more robots waiting for me. With a grin full of eagerness, I jumped over, curled into a ball, and bowled into them.

"Instead of planning to harm innocent hedgehogs, you should keep better track of your boss' hovercars!"

Another set of aliens emerged and lent me their power, and as I rode a gust of air from a fan to a higher area, I realized how nice these creatures were. They were friendly and harmless, grateful and even fun, and they let me use their abilities with hardly a second thought!

_And Eggman was using them as batteries. Not cool._

"He and I are going to have a long chat when I confront him."

Right now though, I took advantage of the alien's powers and blasted down a path, letting the wind I created whistle through my quills and allowing the feeling to take over. It would've been the maximum amount of peaceful to me if there wasn't an irritating sound ringing in my ears.

"We here at Eggman's Incredible Interstellar Amusement Park consider ourselves the universe's first fully green amusement park; although the green is from the nausea and vomiting, but still, green is green."

"I hope by 'we' he means him and his robots," I murmured, running around another fountain and bolting off. "Boost!"

I charged forward down a long brick-road, any stray rings coming at me like they were attracted to me, following the path, launching myself through a giant tiki head, and not ever losing my momentum. It was impossible for me to sit still in this place- in fact, it would've been impossible _anywhere_- there was so much ground to cover, so many things to see, a plot to squash…

_And there were apparently five planets in this park to explore as well, if Eggman's lame announcements were anything to go by._

"Would Sonic the Hedgehog please report to the security office? Sonic the Hedgehog, please report to the security office. We found your... uh... YOUR KEYS! That's it, we found your keys. No need to be ready for a trap, we only want to return your keys."

_Keys to what?!_

"What in the world would I need keys for?" I questioned, obviously appalled as I started running again. "At_ least_ say you've got something credible, like my best friend, or a Chaos Emerald, or a chili dog!"

Unfortunately, this meant that some robot had tipped Eggman off that I was in the park, but let my presence be known! Maybe it would get him to veer off the track of thinking he could get away with whatever plot he was cooking up in that egg-shaped head of his.

Blasting over yet another dash panel and trampeling around in a loop, I came to a place with a crystal in the air, a crate, and a ledge too high to jump over. I stared at the crystal curiously, wondering what it was for…

"Maybe I'll find out later?" I asked myself, climbing onto the crate and double jumping over the ledge. Following this, I skipped across three platforms hovering over a bed of spikes, then leapt over to a series of fans to bring myself higher up.

"The following rides are closed for repairs: the "Free Money Ride", "It's An All You Can Eat World", and "Pick A Car, Any Car"."

_Darn, I wanted to ride "Pick A Car, Any Car" so I could have something to use my non-existent keys on._

When I stopped again, I was at the top of a pretty steep slope, filled with robots all in a line and the crystals lining the edges. I had a really bizarre thought about me reflecting off the crystals and zinging through the robots, but I had to laugh at that. I mean, that wasn't possible!

_Well, I DO have a pretty large resume of having experienced weird things…_

Instead, I used my Boost power to plow through the robots, freeing more aliens and gaining more power by the second. By the time I had turned all the robots into piles of parts, I was still brimming with the power the aliens gave to me, and I had to question…how could they do that!?

I never answered my own question, because I bolted right into another large capsule containing a ton of aliens. I bounded off the button, doing a flip in the air before landing back on my feet in a confident pose.

"No one deserves to be trapped like that," I stated with a headshake, watching the throng of aliens take to the sky, welcoming their new found emancipation. "Go on and be free!"

Their joyous nature was completely contagious, and I eventually found myself grinning wider than ever before. If saving these aliens was what I was about to do, then it was going to be a piece of cake.

_This is gonna be fun. _

* * *

**And there we have it. The only thing I have to point out are Eggman's PA announcements- describing them became really repetitive, so at one point I decided to just plunk 'em in there and have Sonic "thought comment" to clarify that it wasn't him that said so. It shouldn't be too much of a problem if you've played the game and can tell the difference, but if you find the sudden announcements jarring or anything I'll touch them up.**

**With that, I hope your day is just as much fun as Sonic's! ^^**


	2. Color Me Suspicious

_Ghostkid33:_ Haha, yeah, Sonic has a few moments of hilarity in Sonic Colors, I'll admit. Glad to hear that you're enjoying it so far!

_DanceDream: _Thanks, DanceDream! I was a little skeptical on Sonic's personality the first time I wrote this, but now I'm back on track, so things should be pretty smooth. ;) I used some DS dialogue to make the chapter feel a little fuller and make it less choppy. I can't say that other characters will appear, but at the very least they will get a mention. :)

As for the italics, they're Sonic's thoughts, which is a throwback to my Unleashed adaption, and also basically how I write from Sonic's perspective. It's kinda like he's really narrating what's going on and giving his own thoughts on things, just to make the story a bit more relatable and personal. :3

Nope, all of Eggman's announcements will be one hundred percent from the game...but now that ya point it out, maybe I should slip in one or two of my own. ;) And I only mentioned the Shadow adapt because I unintentionally raised some hype about it, and I've gotten messages pestering me about when it'll be posted, and I figured those people would be a TAD upset to see Colors came first. xD;

X-X

**Hey-lo! As you can see from above, that's how I'll be responding to anonymous reviews from now on. I mean, everyone's doing it now, about time I started too! I'm also really surprised at the positive reaction this has received already- it's nice to see some new and old faces too. :) Anyway, this chapter is rather generic and straightforward compared to other chapters, but it had to be done like this. Things pick up later, promise. Nothing happens without a reason. ;)**

* * *

I had finally caught up with Tails after introducing myself to the resort, and I was showing him a few choice areas of the park. Our gazes now lingered on the lumbering neon orange "WELCOME" sign plastered to a spinning globe. Eggman's voice was echoing all throughout the Tropical Resort yet again, continuing to try to persuade people into thinking he wasn't up to anything suspicious.

"He loves to hear his own lips flap, but I gotta hand it to the Eggster, this place is epic!" I admitted, motioning for Tails to follow me as I carried on. "Everyone and their brother is gonna want to come here!"

"No doubt!" Tails pulled himself away from all the eye candy surrounding us and hurried after me. "…but now I'm not sure why _we're_ here! This place looks totally harmless!"

"Because Eggman plus secretly built amusement park equals evil plot for us to foil!" I explained again. "Lucky for us he's not very good at keeping things hidden."

_Ha, no kidding there! _

"True, it would be pretty hard to miss a giant floating space amusement park surrounded by planets." He then frowned hesitantly. "Still, an evil plot? …I don't think so."

_Oh well- I'd prove it to him eventually. _

I stopped walking to glance over the edge of the resort, Tails wondering what I was looking at and following my stare. Just beyond the amusement park was our home planet from an even _better_ angle. The various parts of the resort actually seemed to compliment the scene quite nicely.

"Whoa…"

"Plot or not, you can't be mad at this view." I smiled as the undeniably true words escaped my mouth. "This place is takin' beauty to the next level! I'm just surprised that it was so easy to sneak in here."

Tails nervously scratched his head, thinking back to the elevator ride. "Uh, I wouldn't say it was THAT easy…Ugh, just thinking about it makes my head feel like it wants to-"

Tails' griping was interrupted by a sudden boom somewhere behind us, and I instantly rushed off to investigate.

"Yee-haw! Git along, li'l aliens!" a yellow cube-shaped robot bellowed, swinging at two aliens with a butterfly net. One of them was white like the ones I had come in contact with earlier, but the other was a cyan color and looked a lot different. Orbot, Eggman's repainted assistant from my last major adventure, was chasing them as well, except he was trying to bring the creatures down with several green lasers.

_Good thing he had terrible aim._

"Your voice chip is stuck on cowboy again! Stop talking and net those aliens!" Orbot ordered Cubot, his companion. Cubot continued to mutter incoherent cowboy musings while Orbot kept shooting, only to realize he wasn't going to hit the aliens anytime soon and gave up. He started to lie on his side to watch Cubot try to round them up. I observed them both intently, and I certainly didn't like what I was seeing- they were trying to catch the aliens to stuff them into capsules, huh?

_Sorry, not today. _

"I'm not sure of what's going on…but I'm sure of what I'm gonna do!"

I bounced from structure to structure, gliding secretly over Cubot's head. With the way he was staring at the aliens he was about to capture, I was confident that he hadn't noticed me. I did see that the white alien, with a cute blue curl on the top of his head, was floating in front of his cyan colored friend trying to protect him.

_And lucky for him, I was going to be _their_ protector!_

Within the same amount of time it took Cubot to swing the net, I ran up in a rush, scooped the aliens into my arms, and jumped back on top of a building. It took Cubot a few seconds to realize that his net seemed to lack aliens.

"Huh? !"

"Hey!" I called down to him, releasing the aliens to show them that I meant no harm. "What's going on?"

I never received an answer- the cyan alien had started spinning in fast circles around me, and I stared at it curiously. Next thing I knew, it had turned into energy and zapped inside of me!

"Huh- WHOA!"

A bright light suddenly consumed me as I felt myself transform, leaving the white alien behind while I ricocheted off buildings as a cyan-colored laser.

_One of the weirdest feelings ever: the energy of an alien taking over your body for a brief amount of time. Pretty trippy. _

. . .

Before I knew it, the energy that caused me to turn into a laser had worn off, and I found myself running around somewhere in Tropical Resort- lost in a way that I didn't want to be. Tails was out of sight, there was no sign of the white alien (or the cyan one), and I was running even though I didn't recall ever starting.

"Well that was peculiar…" I muttered, glancing around at my surroundings to see if I could spot anything familiar.

The answer to that was no- hovering cars and tour buses flew over my head, and I was running under several archways and bridges. Oh well- I'd find my way back to Tails no problem, considering I had done it once already.

"Okay, so the White aliens give me the power to Boost, while the Cyan one caused me to turn into a laser?" I asked myself. "…awesome! I wonder if there's more of them out there…"

The Cyan alien's power was much different from the White one's. here the boosting power gave me a feeling a freedom, that single moment of zipping around as a laser was…bold, almost.

"I wonder if I'll see any more of the Cyan ones- they've got a pretty impressive speed record, if I do say so myself," I said with a grin. "I'll bet that even- Whoa!"

I snapped out of my thoughts once again as my mind registered that I was about to crash into a wall. Thinking quickly, I sidestepped out-of-the-way and onto a ramp, leading up to a red handle.

"Cool, a zipline!" I exclaimed, grabbing it and whizzing down the line. "Woo!"

I let go before the line ended and skidded a bit on my landing, crossing over another dash panel and flying through a very narrow area. I quick-stepped to and fro several times, barely missing walls inches away from my face. I was finally free once I ran straight into a spring, bouncing from one to another like a Ping-Pong ball until gravity finally took effect, grabbing me with its invisible pull and dragging me down again. Upon dismounting, I found myself face to face with another alien capsule.

_The only difference from before was that it contained Cyan aliens rather than white ones. _

"Huh, so Eggman did nab some of you guys too…" I trailed, touching it and freeing the creatures within. They spiraled around me for a few moments before turning into energy and absorbing into me. This time, I didn't transform into a laser straightaway, and I assumed it was because that the aliens weren't eager to go anywhere like the other one.

"Maybe it's like with the Boost…I can activate it when I need to…"

I braced myself, thinking about how I was supposed to tap into their power. After all, with the white alien's abilities, all I had to do was starting running and it would kick in eventually.

"Hmm…" I mulled, striking several incredulous poses to see if anything would activate. "I guess the boost power is easier for me to use because running is my first nature…"

_Darn it, I was going to figure out how this worked…_

I paced around, trying to put nothing on my mind other than blasting through the resort as a single beam of energy, a bold strike against Eggman's efforts…

"Okay, lessee, um…Laser?"

Apparently this did the trick, because I had suddenly jumped up and began spinning rapidly in place before whooshing off in a beam of light. I zoomed through a line of rings in my path, the laser-form only lasting until I crashed into a wall.

"Oomph! Yeah…I might need some practice…"

I dislodged myself from the wall, only to flat on my back. Glancing up, I saw a small crack under the wall that I could only get through by crawling, so crawl I did. I then stood back up and started jogging again, sliding under another wall without missing a beat. This took me into a dash panel that blasted me around a bend. The path hovered over a small pool with large Tikis jetting out of it. I whistled.

"Nice touch, Eggman…"

So from there, it was pretty much straight forward running and jumping and ducking. All child's play for me, considering I maneuvered my way around all the obstacles like I was the one that had planted them there. Not even the advancing Egg Pawns made me blink- with a jump and spin, I put them out of commission swiftly, hopping back onto the ground and running off like nothing had ever been there.

This finally ended when I located a discretely hidden zipline. A small hum escape my lips when I reached up and griped it with one hand, letting the makeshift transportation bring me through a rainbow ring and into another cyan alien capsule sitting on yet another "WELCOME" sign.

_I think I've been welcomed enough by the surprise alien powers, fantastic views, and monster robots, thank you. _

I leaped off the sign and alighted on a spring, rocketing up and catching sight of another crystal. Now that I had the Cyan's power in me, I wondered if I had finally found the purpose of the crystals…

"LASER!"

Suddenly shining with a blinding shade of cyan aura, I transformed again, aiming right at the crystal. Bolting off as nothing but a streak of neon, I struck the crystal, and since I was now a beam of light, I reflected off of it and ricocheted through a series of them, making the pattern of a star before landing on an upper area and claiming another capsule of cyan creatures.

"You guys are everywhere!" I exclaimed as the creatures in this capsule absorbed into me as well. "Yeah, yeah, give me your power, why not? A guy can't even introduce himself first? Yeesh!"

Subtle objecting aside, I noticed a long line of Spinners in my path, and I smirked to myself, crying out with "LASER!" again and shooting right through them all. I left them in exploded pieces, whisking away in an excited hurry. Several paces away, I transformed back to normal, and the white aliens that were sealed within the Spinners came floating over to me. I greeted them with a grin and waved them over.

"Hey guys! I figured having a robot as a new apartment space wasn't doing anyone any good, so let's just say I evicted ya!"

The aliens stared at me with some perplexity before responding with squeaks, squeals, and chirps. Now it was my turn to look puzzled, my left ear going crooked as I tried to comprehend the high-pitched message I'd just received.

"Wow, clearly we've got some communication issues going on. Either I need to get out the ol' English-to-Alien dictionary, or I have to start talking in squeals myself…and I'd probably sound like a fan girl. Somebody scratch that idea."

_The horror of the image I just created for myself…_

Since the aliens had no idea what my words and hand motions were supposed to translate to in the slightest, they simply used action to show that they were gratified. They caught me off guard while I was gaping in revulsion at my thoughts, loaning me their power and sending a supercharged shockwave through my nerves. Feeling hyperactive again, an overeager and downright stupid grin appeared on my face as I glanced to the path ahead.

"Well, this is one thing we don't need words for."

Bursting forward with new unbridled energy, my footfalls hardly hit the ground with how fast I was moving; it only took a second's touch for each step to push me forward. The thrill of the speed increased with every passing moment, slowly dragging me into a state of euphoria…I was so deep into it, I hardly acknowledged that wall coming at me at several miles an hour-

"Grah!"

The sense of reality came flooding back, with me jumping up at the right moment, positioning myself in the air just before my face got up close and personal with the wall. Instead, I targeted another Spinner out of the corner of my eye, hovering around with its buddies.

"Time to make a detour!"

The sound of a dozen crashes came afterward, robot remains plunking out of the air and scattering across the floor. I stayed suspended in midair for a few gravity-defying seconds, making cocky faces before flipping around and taking off once again.

A dash panel helped me regain lost momentum, catapulting me ahead towards another yellow-bricked wall. I leaned down and slid under it without missing a beat.

"Now that's how to dodge a wall-_with style_!" I called brightly, vaulting back to my feet. Now back to running, I leaned forward into the speed, running down a sharp incline in the path. It eventually curled into itself, leading up to a highly convenient spring. I threw myself against it, taking off into the air and greeting another set of Spinners with a happy two-fingered salute…

…before brutally beating the robots, with me armed with nothing more than fists, feet, and a head full of quills.

"Here we go again…" I told myself after, freeing another round of white aliens. No awkward conversation -or _lack_ of conversation- followed this time, as the aliens swirled around and aimed for me. I braced myself as their rainbow boosting power took effect, and I shot across the path in a blur. The path itself looped around twice, and then launched me in the air, but I anchored myself back down by slamming down on a robot like a meteor.

_It didn't know what hit him!_

Climbing up, I noticed a rather large gathering of Spinners hovering over a gap in the path. It took me a few seconds to think up what to do, but then I broke out into a grin and curled into a ball.

"Heh, I'm looking forward to this."

Like a hailstorm, I rained down on the robots like no tomorrow, trashing them all until I started to make my way to the other side of the abyss. I was in the process of making a mental note to thank Eggman for his "strategic placing of robots" when I honed in on a group of Egg Pawn Greeters. I struck the one nearest to me, causing its' welcome sign to spiral into the air before finding its way into my grip. With an unquestionably pompous smirk, I turned to the other Egg Pawns.

"Talk about a welcome surprise, hah?"

Signaled by the lame pun, the Egg Pawns started panicking, but it only lasted until I used the sign their comrade left behind to whack them with. Their heads were spinning as fast as tornadoes…until I finished them both off by kicking them off the edge. Two white aliens came floating up to me moments later and gave me their power as a form of thanks.

The world went slightly fuzzy again as the Boost power overtook me again, sending me down the path, up a wall, and around a u-turn. I could hardly comprehend what was going on in my surroundings after that, but I was going too fast to care! I finally regained some insight on what was happening when I realized that I was zigzagging through a set of springs. I also noticed I had rescued yet another Cyan alien. However, this one didn't directly absorb into me.

"Uh…hi?"

It just sort of stared at me, as if trying to decide upon something. I then saw robots trudging up to us, and I had to act fast. I jumped up and went to touch the alien to see if making contact would transfer the power, but to my surprise it gave me a high five and then transformed me. The robots just gathered around, staring as if it was some sort of laser light show.

_Which it was just about to be._

"LASER!"

I gave the robots a show all right- the last show they'd ever see! Mechanical pieces clanked as they hit the ground, me with the power of my cyan friend continuing to shoot across the Resort, and at some point, Eggman's voice kicked in again.

"Please feel free to fill out a brief survey after your visit. Your opinion matters to us. ...Unless you didn't have fun, then we don't care."

_I don't think Eggman would appreciate finding out that_ I_ was having fun, though. _

I don't see why being so serious about everything is such a virtue to people- I've saved the day so many times in the past, and I can smile while doing it! 'Sides, in a way, treating it as a game makes it all seem less stressful…and why be unhappy if you can help it?

Still a Cyan Laser, I blasted right through a set of gray blocks and hit a candle-like thing, which absorbed my laser form and sent me rocketing through a very tight-squeezed nook. Before I knew it, though, I had exited via another "candle" and reverted back to normal.

"Radical."

Jumping up, I came crashing back down on a set of gray blocks clogging up the path, me and my fist slamming into them and leaving them as rubble. Surveying the new area I was in, I slightly twitched when I found another cyan alien trapped in a capsule. I didn't really want its powers again, but I still wasn't about to leave it helplessly in captivity.

_It was a wonder why Eggman left them lying around like this…_

"Oh well," I shrugged, freeing the alien nevertheless. Even if I was getting a little tired of the constant lasering around, there was no denying that it was fun. I could go fast normally, but being a laser while going fast was a whole different experience!

I made my way upwards, freeing a set of white aliens as well. When I reached the top, I slammed into two robots, then latched onto a zipline and rode it all the way down to the next area…which contained a Goal Ring!

_Ah, memories._

* * *

**I debated on including Goal Rings again, but they existed in Unleashing Sonic, so, why not? They won't be mentioned as abundantly this time, though. X) **

**Thanks for reading!**


	3. Firin' Mah Lazar

_Ghostkid33_: Gotta love a cocky Sonic- just the way he pulls it off is so flawless! And yeah, I'll admit, I didn't quite get used to his new voice until Generations, but I'm okay with it now. ^^ Thanks again, Ghostkid!

_VineWeaver_: Happy to hear you loved the last chapter! I'm just sorry for the longish wait for this chapter... I usually don't take that long on most of my stories. ^^;

_DanceDream_: Oh, please don't apologize for the lateness- you see how late I am? Madness. ;P

Repetition is my greatest foe, and it's part of the reason why this chapter took awhile to roll out. Although that's part of the fun of the challenge, finding a new way to say things. :)

And speaking of description, I'm touched that you think mine are beautiful. I used to be more of a straight-forward writer, but lately I've been trying to be a little more descriptive, so it's nice to hear it's working out and I'm improving a bit. ^^

'Thanks for replying; it makes me happy when people do that, like my opinion matters to somebody even though I don't have an account (yet). :)'

Oh, you're welcome! You've reviewed so much of my stuff in the past and given me motivation (and the momentum! ;D) to write, and I'm actually feeling a little guilty that I haven't replied to you and other frequent 'anonymous' reviewers before...but, better late than never, I suppose. ) Thanks a bunch, DanceDream!

X-X

**ACK. As mentioned briefly and somewhat ambiguously above, it usually doesn't take me very long to update adaptions...but I've been busy and lazy (paradox!) for awhile now, but I've finally, finally, _finally _managed to hunker down and get this edited. What started out as a rather bland blurb of 1,600ish words is now a much better read, and stands at over 4,000. Length wasn't really the problem...but the original draft _was_ pretty boring. :P **

**Hopefully that is not _too_ much so now, and I apologize for the unanticipated wait. ^^;**

* * *

_Argh, the sheer amount of fun in this place was almost overwhelming. _

Eggman definitely had the right idea in building this place. If he had somehow managed to catch _my _attention with the park, then no doubt would the rest of the world be lining up to get on the elevator. I hadn't even been to any of the other attractions -yet- but all I needed was a taste to see that the amusement park _wasn't_ too good to be true. Eggman really _did _build it, it really_ did_ meet my expectations, and whatever he was trying to accomplish by putting on such a charade would probably succeed.

_You know, if I _hadn't_ come across the elevator when I did._

In fact, I could've been completely convinced about this place as Tails was, but there was one thing that hadn't quite registered on Tails' radar.

The aliens.

When they gave me their powers, I could feel what _they_ were feeling- intense empathy right there. I hadn't yet discovered what Eggman's purpose for them was, but with how badly they were frightened straight to the core, he probably wasn't keeping them as soft and cuddly pets because he was lonely.

_They_ hadn't gone into Tails. _They_ hadn't shown him what they can really do. Most importantly, he didn't _know_ what they were feeling like I did. I was still new to all this transforming and whatnot, but I knew that these aliens were in trouble, and I was going to help them in any way I could.

"Isn't that right, buddy?" I asked while leaning against a wall and depicting where I should take off next. The cyan-colored alien that was still within me quickly popped out on the spot, twirling around and giving me a curious look. I smiled back and gave it a thumbs up. "We're going to get to the bottom of this! I just need to rendezvous with Tails again…but, eh heh, I'm lost again. Hard to keep track when there's a thousand different colors flying by you. My vision while running isn't exactly high definition."

Propelling myself away from the wall, my instinct went on autopilot, and whipped up one heck of a wind. The Cyan Wisp was by my side in a flash, keeping up with me for a few minor seconds before dissolving into energy and giving it to me again.

"Guess it wants to take the express- fine with me!"

The up-beat music floating melodically through the resort only served to boost my morale, even making me bob my head a little as I ran. It truly brought out the atmosphere of the park- because the flourishing palm trees, spinning globes, and spotlights just weren't enough.

_Eggman being over-the-top wasn't _always _a bad thing._

My feet thudded over a ramp, thrusting me into the air and freeing me from the restraints of the ground. In the air I could move rather liberally, although it was only temporary- especially when I started popping balloons again.

_I'll never understand why popping balloons is so much fun…_

The very second I landed on the ground again, I was clonked in the head by _something, _and due to being totally not prepared for it, I fell over.

"Jeez, I need to start wearing a helmet or something…" I grumbled, pushing myself off the ground again. My eyes scanned the ground for what had hit me, but all I found was a ring, and at first, I thought it was one I had lost due to being hit.

"But if it's mine, why is there only one?" I wondered aloud, kicking it into the air and grabbing it afterwards. "Usually I lose more than one at once…"

My ears started twitching with irritancy at a foreign sound, and while trying to keep them still, I looked up for the source. Another ring fell out of the sky and plunked me on the head once again, but this time, I snatched it out of midair, twirled it between my fingers, and pinpointed where it had originated from.

"Well,_ that's_ a new one…"

Glancing curiously up at an orange levitating robot, it stared back at me with a condescending look on its face. However, it really didn't pose much of a threat, since it kept sprinkling rings everywhere.

"Wow, never seen a robot like this one before," I mused, standing around and watching it curiously. "Eggman's idea board must be pretty disappointing if _this_ is the latest that he whipped up in the time he was gone…"

_Then again, most of his time was probably poured into building the first successful space elevator that led up to the greatest amusement park ever, so it was justified. _

The orange robot -which I personally coined a "Sprinkler"- hardly paid attention to my musings, but it eventually caught onto the fact that I wasn't taking it seriously. It shouldn't have felt so bad- I hardly took _anything_ seriously.

Since it posed less of a threat than the rest of its robotic brethren, I had started jogging off again, hoping to momentarily break out into a free sprint. Before I could build up enough speed, however, something skydived onto my head again, and it didn't have the healing properties of a ring.

"What in the name of _Chaos_?" I groaned loudly, my voice hitching the second the pain settled in. My gaze darted to the ground in an instant, and what I saw was definitely _not_ a ring.

"A spike ball?!" I howled. "You're kidding me, right?"

Chancing a glimpse over my shoulder and away from the slightly unsettling sight, the realization dawned on me that the Sprinkler was tailing me, now appearing rather furious and hurling spike balls everywhere.

_Guess it went up a few notches on the threat meter. _

Snarling a bit, I leapt up and threw myself at the contraption, accompanied by a fierce gust of wind. The wind knocked the robot back, but when I rammed into it with a well-executed homing attack, I simply glanced off and jostled some rings out of its body.

"Okay. Has totally weak attacks, but it's indestructible. Fantastic."

Seeing that brute strength wasn't going to be the solution, I returned to the ground and dashed away, planning to outrun the fiend and get out of its firing radius. The Sprinkler was resilient, and persistent, continuing to hover just above my head and cause a rain of pain.

_And I could use that to my advantage._

"Come and get some!" I cried exuberantly, sprinting towards a loop in the road at full speed. The robot accepted the challenge and picked up its own speed, charging toward me like a bull. I sent a snicker into the wind before collapsing into ball form and barreling on, rolling harmlessly under a narrow passage under the wall.

And since the Sprinkler didn't have razor-sharp, speedy hedgehog reflexes, it smashed right into the wall and put itself out of commission.

"Well _that_ blew up in its face," I stated coyly, leaping onto a grind rail with finesse. "Brought the poor guy to pieces."

Anyway, horrendous puns aside; I put the strange encounter with the new type of robot behind me, and tried to focus on relocating Tails. After spontaneously rushing off to commit heroic duties and suddenly being whisked away by an alien, I was way too eager to fill Tails in on my misadventures.

_Plus, it all would help serve to convince Tails that Eggman was only back to wreak havoc. "Remorse for my past transgressions" my foot._

Only problem was, I was starting to get impatient with _myself_.

"Great…I've probably ran around in circles several times, and I still have no sign of Tails," I exasperated, running by the Ferris Wheel once more and getting a troubling sense of de ja vu. The park was huge, and even with my speed, covering all that ground took up way too much valuable time.

The alien that was currently hitching a ride within must've sensed my distress, because it popped back out again and gave me a questioning look. Seeing that it was silently demanding answers, I braked, skidded around, and merely shrugged.

"Eh, no worries, buddy. I'm just working myself up a little because I can't find my lil' bro as fast as I'd like to…" I quirked my eyebrow in the alien's direction. "You don't happen to have friends that can teleport, do ya?"

My cyan-colored pal processed this for a moment, almost like it had just received some cryptic message and was trying to mentally decipher it.

_That must be what learning a new language is like. _

Finally, it shook its head, and I heaved a disgruntled sigh.

"Aw well. Just gotta keep pressing on, I suppose…I really can't complain, though. Maybe I'll find a joint that sells chili dogs in this place! I could go for a snack!"

While I was busy thinking with my stomach, the Wisp snuck another glance at me, then suddenly narrowed its eyes with a cunning idea.

…of course, I was momentarily immobilized by the thought of my favorite food, so when the cyan alien turned into energy, plunged into me, and instantly took control…you could say I was caught a bit off guard.

"HEY! Just _what_ do you think you're- _LASER!__?_"

In a completely unexpected fashion, the bold sensation swamped me again as I transformed back into a laser, and just like with my first experience with the power, the alien had full control over me. I was a helpless streak of light being steered all over the resort, without a clue as to what my destination would be…

_I sure hoped his intentions were good. _

. . .

Back wherever Tails was, he was sitting on his blue toolbox, messing meticulously with one of his inventions. The other alien I had saved from Orbot and Cubot, the white one with the little blue curl, had located him and was now watching curiously.

"Let me see…" Tails mused to himself, fidgeting with a few of his tools. "Gotta connect the framistatic capacitor to the maximizing modulationizer…"

The white alien tried to offer some helpful advice to Tails with a series of squeaks, including using various tentacle waves, but even the intelligent fox couldn't understand the alien's babbling gibberish. He sighed and stared at the alien sadly.

"I wish I knew what you were saying, little guy. Or gal. Or whatever you are."

_Cue epic entrance._

As if appearing out of thin air in a blinding cyan flash, I landed on the ground near Tails, hardly able to make out the cyan alien leaving me and drifting off with a smug flair. It took me a few seconds to realize what it had done for me, but I was too hyped on the rush to think straight.

"Whoa…Oh man…" I began, unable to contain my ecstatic feeling. "That…was…_CRAZY_!"

I threw my hands in the air to emphasize the point, and even though I was visibly enthralled beyond belief, Tails wasn't quite on the same page as I was. He just continued to tinker with his Miles Electric, giving me the occasional indifferent glance.

"Oh, I was just reconfiguring my hand-held into a translator so I can understand this guy," he finally spoke up, lifting his head from his work. "Did you… go somewhere?"

I was appalled.

"Didn't you _see?_" I exhausted, scrambling for the right words to describe the experience. "I absorbed those aliens and got powered up with, like, some kind of _wild _energy! And after a few seconds they'd pop outta me!"

During my on-the-spot explanation, Tails turned to the white alien for conformation, and received a sheepish shrug in return. Sighing, Tails faced me again and gave me a wary look.

"Uh, I find that kind of hard to believe."

_Also like how he won't believe that Eggman's still evil?_

The white alien seemed to be on my side however, as he flew around frantically trying to explain that I _was_ telling the truth. The only problem was that neither I nor Tails could understand anything that he was attempting to convey to us. I scratched my head while watching the alien perform his little dance.

"Huh…?" I turned to Tails and spread out my arms. "Okay seriously, we need to find Eggman and figure out how catching these aliens fit into whatever heinous plan he's hatching!"

"And wreck that plan, right?" Tails asked, still not really listening.

Dejected, I shrugged. "Yeah, that's pretty much how we spend our time."

_Stopping psychopathic plots? Just another Tuesday for me. _

. . .

Taking off into the depths of the Tropical Resort Zone once again on a quest for Eggman, I had left Tails to tinker with his toy- on my _own_ agenda.

"I wonder if he noticed I left this time," I scoffed to myself, not that I could really blame Tails. He always had a knack for becoming engrossed with whatever invention he was messing with. "Anyway, if I were that egghead, what would I be doing right now…?"

_Building an egg-themed robot, eating a huge meal, throwing darts at a picture of my head? Just a few ideal choices._

"Please report any blue hedgehog sightings to one of the Egg Pawn Greeters or Doctor Eggman at the time of earliest convenience. Such info will help keep our park running smoothly….and preferably in one piece."

…_Or hearing his own voice on the intercom. Seems to be the most popular option lately. _

I hardly covered any ground when I came across a different cyan alien, strewn on the path and trapped in a capsule. It was furiously wasting its energy by zapping around in its confinement, throwing itself into the walls in a desperate attempt to get free.

"Hey, hang on!" I called, skidding over there and cracking the capsule open. "Don't use up all that crazy energy like that!"

I stepped back and allowed it some space to fly around. It cautiously hovered away from captivity, glancing at me and studying me to see if I was an enemy. In response, I casually looked up at it and waved.

"'Sup? You gonna super-charge me with your wild energy too?"

It studied me for a few moments longer before deciding it could trust me. It transformed into pure energy before my eyes and dove into me.

"Mpmh!"

The energy pulsed through me in waves that were in sync with my heart, and I could sense every beat of the energy. Feeling extra supercharged, I spun around on my heels, and a smirk fought for dominance on my face after seeing a series of black blocks in midair. They were perfect for ricocheting off of…

"Hmm." An interested hummed escaped my lips through my smirk, eyes still locked on the set of blocks. "…why don't I test this out? LASER!"

Morphing into a destructive beam of energy, I aimed myself at the black blocks and took off, reflecting off the blocks and into three crystals.

"Woo hoo! Feeling good!"

Gripped by the tight hold of the thrill, I was in the mindset to just keep going, but that's what cost me a nice little collision with a wall before. Even after barreling through stray robots, I didn't want to stop, and the alien cut off its power just before I became acquainted with another wall. I glided through the air for a couple more seconds, then klutzily stumbled back onto my feet and wondered where the alien went.

"There's a nicer way to tell people when they're about to break their face," I huffed under my breath, but I quickly dismissed the thought. If ditching me was that Wisp's way of keeping my face good-looking, then who was I to argue?

"What can ya do?"

Pushing onward, I crouched down and slid under a wall, then sprung back up and latched onto a pulley. I used the upward force to propel me into the air, doing a few flips before returning to the ground. Two Egg Greeters were waiting for me; once again waving signs around like there was no tomorrow. I greeted them in return with a homing attack, subsequently launching several pieces of debris into the air.

_After that, nothing stood in my way! _

I sighed, slipping under the wall, running up the path, and grabbing onto a pulley that took me upwards. I sprung into the air, doing several flips before conking into two robots and claiming another cyan alien. I instantly found myself fused with its energy and transformed, aiming myself at the wall, and bouncing off of it into another crystal as the Cyan Laser.

After destroying a good amount of random objects strewn into my path, the laser power wore off, but little trickles of the energy that it left behind in me flitted in my quills, sending several waves of power through my entire being, though I couldn't utilize it for myself.

_T'was truly electrifying._

The energy eventually drizzled away after having not been used, taking the sensation that danced within me away too. It didn't matter too much, considering that I encountered yet another alien, and while I was secretly ecstatic to get to try out its color power again, the fact that so many of the creatures were trapped and scattered everywhere was really irritating…

"Eggman sure managed to nab a lot of you guys…" I mumbled with utter distaste, the bright greenish-blue alien flying out and giving me a defeated, suffering, and hopeless look.

_Broke my heart. _

"Aw man…" I murmured, my hand reaching to the back of my head and tentatively rubbing my neck beneath my quills. "I bet you were stuck in there for a longer time than some of the others, huh?"

The alien nodded dejectedly, seeming to understand me. A tiny, tiny smile crept on my face as I glanced into its eyes. In its gaze, it dawned on me that it wasn't their fault they were stuffed in containers and scattered around the park like free carnival toys. They were beings too, no matter how alien and foreign, entrapped against their will, held prisoner, destined to do Eggman's bidding…

_It was no better than being a woodland creature on my planet, stuffed into a capsule and being fated to be used as a power source for an otherwise soulless robot…having a role as a battery for a machine!_

Internally grimacing but smiling radiantly on the outside to mask my inner personal turmoil, I lowered down so the alien and I were eye to eye. It stared back at me quizzically, but my smile softened with assurance as I gave it a thumbs up.

"Hey, I'm not entirely sure of what's happening here, but I know it's something crooked. Even if my best friend doesn't believe that there's something wrong here, I'm going to stop the man behind all your captures, okay? If there's absolutely one thing I can't stand, it's seeing anyone locked up in any way, shape, or form!"

The Cyan Wisp flew several electrified circles around me, and a delicate chuckle escaped from my throat.

"Yeah, no need to thank me! I do it because I know it's right! I'm pretty sure whatever Eggman's got planned for you guys isn't pretty…but hey, I promise to prevent that! So don't worry!"

In a ultimate rush of happiness, the alien turned into energy and flooded into me, drowning in the amount of power I was exposed to.

…_yeck, _really _bad word choice. I was filled with a lot of energy, point taken._

Simpering uncontrollably as I felt my feet rise from the ground, the now-familiar power enveloped me and allowed me to perform midair somersaults. Once enough energy had been built up, I was off like a rocket, creating an electric sea foam green beam as I went.

"LASER!"

_It was one heck of a rush, using all that power in one setting. It might have been brief, but so much was going on at once it felt like it all couldn't be released in such a little amount of time. _

I bounded off a wall, into a crystal, through a target, into a different crystal, off the same wall, and into several more targets. It hardly took a few seconds in actuality, but being that free felt like hours to me. It was almost as if the alien's over joyousness for being freed had been poured into me, and for that one instance, we had the same set of feelings.

_If only I could do that with everybody- then they wouldn't think I'm so crazy, heh heh. _

I transformed back, as expected, once I collided with a spring and barreled into the robots lingering around. They blatantly weren't expecting me, because they seemed totally off-guard when I sliced into them with spin dashes and severed them into pieces.

_They obviously must not have gotten the memo that I was strolling around tearing up the park_.

"Ha ha!"

Rejoicing white aliens gifted me with some boost power after I beat the contraptions. Trusting in my newfound endowment of speed (not that I didn't have confidence in my own abilities), I raced straight to the edge of the path, where there was clearly a dead end, and took a faithful leap off the edge of the collapsing platform.

_Machocist move, I'll admit. _

Anyone else would have thought I was utterly insane and lacking even an ounce of common sense, the way I took a dive like that –and into a huge gap that lead into _space_ for crying out loud- but I knew what I was doing.

"Aw yeah."

Right before it was too late, I boosted in mid-air, the sudden flood of motion flying me right over the gap and crashing into a trio of robots. I…didn't anticipate the robots being there, so the four of us (or what was _left_ of the other three) tumbled into a ball of hedgehog, metallic parts, greeting signs and even some oil, and afterward ended up in a pile on the ground.

I fought my way out of the pile of robot remains, shaking off loose nuts and bolts, spitting out a gear, and rubbing a little oil off my forehead with my arm.

"These robots really need to learn how to keep themselves together," I huffed in retaliation, kicking any other unwanted debris off my shoes before bolting off again. Treading through the path once again, my eyes glanced to the plantlife growing innocently enough of the sides of the road, and I could only make them out as green smears in my vision.

_Though I was hoping they weren't a part of the "last of their kind" that Eggman said they were. _

Slamming into several more robots afterward, my speed spiked considerably when I trampled over a Boost Pad, gaining the ability to zip right up the side of the wall and pull off a U-Turn. I pushed off the wall as I neared the ground, staying suspended in midair for a few critical seconds. Reality snapped back into place, and I was popping sets of balloons and popping a robot's head off in no time.

"No aliens were harmed in the creation of this park; they were all harmed AFTER the park was created."

"Hmph, that just makes me want to give you a piece of my mind even more!" I growled, freeing another alien the moment I spoke, on cue for a response to the intercom. The alien must've heard the announcement too, for it spiraled up my arm and into my chest, infusing its energy into me. My grin grew with the amount of energy I possessed; and in preparation to take off, I slightly crouched in my stance.

"LASER!"

I shot through several targets, claimed a lot of rings, burst _dozens_ of balloons, and obtained yet another laser alien. I couldn't even say anything on the matter before it fused into me too, increasing the amount of time I had as a laser and the strength.

I experienced a different sense of invincibility once I rebounded off a wall, charged through several targets, and ended up hitting another "candle". Like a charge of electricity going through a wire, I zigzagged through the small space once again and ended up in the end of the area. Returning back to normal and coming to a halt, the aliens flew out of me and into the sky towards freedom. I waved back, but while they had found what they sought out for so desperately, I had not.

"Where are you, Eggman…?" I questioned to no one in particular, staring determinedly at my blue planet above, as if it would give me the answer. It just replied with a silent, glowing, cool blue stare, but its paradoxically warm aura assured me all the same that I'd find him.

_Eggman had to be stopped before he took this too far…and when lives are already being enslaved, it's far too late even now._

* * *

**And there we go! The next two chapters are much more original than this one (i.e. _improvised_), but I like the way they turned out, so updates _shouldn't_ be a month and then some. **

**...but no promises. :V **


	4. In Which I Battle a Ferris Wheel

**I'm a month late, and yet this chapter still came earlier than I anticipated. :P**

* * *

The one thing about Eggman was that I always knew when he was close.

It was like he left an invisible essence of himself wherever he went (not that it was hard, considering how prominent his _ego_ was), and it had gotten so I could recognize his presence separate from everything else, and admittedly it was kinda weird, although sometimes useful. My quills would bristle slightly any time I thought he was near, and whether it was from anticipation of a fight or an instinctual sense of fear depended on the situation.

_This time it was from the thought of a battle- I was in need of a robot that could last _more_ than two rounds with me._

"I've just gotta get over this area…"

I traversed my way over a series of platforms in such a fashion that it looked like I was performing some sort of freakish dance, yet making sure to watch my footing to prevent a dire accident. One false move and I'd probably tumble right off the park itself!

"Be careful not to fall!" I told myself in a tone that was laced with slightly ironic sarcasm.

With excellent stamina and plenty of stunts to show for it, it was only a matter of getting to the other side fast enough as I ricocheted around with a zipline and landed in another area that had _rotating_ platforms. I stood on the one closest to me, since it had the button that controlled the rotation, and waited until I could get onto the next platform. The platform after that one rotated on its own, meaning that I would have to time it carefully.

"Enjoy every moment in the luxurious grounds as they might be your last, especially if you are a meddlesome hedgehog or his fawning sidekick."

Ignoring Eggman's latest comment disdainfully, I took the leap, alighting on the platform perfectly, and waited for the one I was on to rise on the top. The moment it reached its peak, I bounded off and slammed into a series of robots. Like I had predicted, the area was quite short, as I could see a Goal Ring from where I was standing. The only thing in between me and that ring was a set of three rotating platforms.

"Ah, platforming. Let's get this over with."

I jumped on one of the buttons of the first one, waiting as it painstakingly _slowly_ rotated, taking forever and a day just to get to me a point where I could jump onto the next one.

_How long it took was pure torture!_

I waited with immense impatience on the next one, eventually giving up and using the wall to propel me onto the highest platform, which bizarrely managed to work. Not bothering to question it, I leapt from that platform and crashed down in front of the Goal Ring, racing into it and thanking the stars that I wouldn't have to deal with any more rotating platforms.

_For now, at least._

Satisfied with what I had accomplished, I set off again in a straightforward run, taking in the sights as I went…for who knew how much longer I'd have them.

. . .

I was now standing on the edge of the resort, gazing over the edge at the sight of the planet again. I know I had seen the same sight from all angles as I raced around the Tropical Resort, but it was too breathtaking to exactly ignore. From the resort, it looked like the planet was above you, when in reality you were just upside down looking down at it.

_Pretty cool, huh?_

As I stood and contemplated upon the view, I wondered when the park was originally set to open, considering Tails and I had come across the elevator by accident, and that there was no one else in the park.

"Probably whenever he's finished cooking up his scheme."

I folded my arms and tried my hardest not to scowl.

"It's not fair," I huffed, exhausting an exasperated sigh. "This place is absolutely fantastic, and I've only been to one park so far…but why did_ Eggman_ have to build it? I can't enjoy it to the fullest extent because I know he's lurking around somewhere doing…something! Why can't I figure all of this out _now_?"

I sighed, slightly hanging my head. Tails still didn't really believe me…what if I was the one in the wrong after all?

Blinking, I shook it off.

"No, if Eggman's capturing these aliens for whatever reason, it can't be for anything good. In the very least I have to save _them_…" I groaned again. "But I dunno how! …yet."

_I punched my fist into my palm and frowned- talk about frustrating… _

The odd thing about this was that it reminded of Cream, of all people. She was like me in the way that she never let anything get to her too much- the only difference was that I tended to dwell on the rare occasion.

_Not counting the time I turned into a beast by the influence of a dark creature living in the center of the planet. That was way different._

Anything I did, Cream would simply say that it was amazing no matter what. If I messed up, she'd say "Aw, too bad!" and urge me on even more. And every time I would see her, she'd come running up to me greeting "Good morning!", which always brightened my day…In fact, thinking about Cream made me smile again- she'd be loving this view right now…

"Darn it, too bad I can't go buy a postcard," I murmured. "Eggman could make a fortune just off of that!"

My ears began twitching when the PA system crackled to life again, and I made a face- there went Eggman again, ruining my perfectly good thinking to myself…

"Notice the lovely planet above you- soon it will be the property of Eggman Enterprises."

_Was this guy psychic or something?_

I scowled again- figures he would say something like that, trying to conquer the world and all. Despite how threatening the undertone of his words was and how grandiose they came off as, all it did was serve to drive me onward in my search again. I narrowed my eyes in confident determination and bolted off again, ready to go find that egghead once and for all.

"Not while I'm around, Eggman…"

. . .

"…twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five…bah! Not nearly enough aliens!" Eggman exasperated, thrashing his fists on the dashboard of his Egg Pod. He was in the middle of counting his cartons of aliens, and as he had announced to the world, he apparently didn't have enough.

_To me, I think he had twenty-five cartons too many. _

"Want us to get more?" Orbot asked obediently and calmly. Eggman gave him a sarcastic look.

"No. I want you to get me a cheeseburger and a shake."

"That'll be easier! Cheeseburgers don't run as fast as them li'l varmints!" exclaimed Cubot in his unnatural accent.

"IDIOT. Get me more aliens!" Eggman demanded. Orbot and Cubot started to head off, Cubot turning around and asking: "Y'all want fries with that?"

His reply was in the form of a wrench conking him in the head. He rubbed his head as he floated off muttering, "I reckon that hurt…wait a minute I need to go over yonder! Sorry…"

He promptly changed his course of direction, leaving Eggman to survey what aliens he already had.

"Precious little aliens…I'll harness their Hyper-go-on power and then nothing will stop me! I know, I say that every time, but this time, really, nothing will stop me!"

"Erm…Boss?" Orbot asked nervously, knocking on the brim of Eggman's hovercraft. Eggman's glare was his asking of "What?", with Orbot pointing meekly behind him.

What Eggman wasn't expecting to see was me.

"SONIC!?"

"Who're _you_ callin' nothin'?" I asked, arms folded and eyebrow raised. A challenging yet amused smirk was plastered on my face, and I could tell by the unappeased look of Eggman's that it was effective. Adding insult to injury, I turned with a quick spin and promptly taunted them. Eggman was highly offended and growled disgustedly in my direction while Cubot, who hadn't managed to get very far, scratched his head.

"Huh?"

Orbot started explaining without missing a beat. "He means that the boss said 'nothing will stop me' and since Sonic here is going to stop him, it's like the boss was calling Sonic 'nothing'."

I was somewhat impressed, even though he had spoiled the joke. "Great! I thought nobody would get that."

Eggman turned to Orbot and hissed at him. "Fine! You're so smart, robot, you take care of this mess! Release the Big Boy! At least I know he won't screw it up!"

He closed the hatch on his hovercraft and took off into the sky. "Hasta la bye-bye, suckers!"

Orbot frantically tried to get him to come back as the last thing I expected appeared- that Ferris Wheel!

_No wonder something was so off about it- IT WAS A GIANT KILLER ROBOT! …that I would quickly destroy. _

Upon seeing the "Big Boy's" large eye peering down at me, I casually held my hand out and got ready for action.

"Guess it's time for me to start stopping."

I adjusted my gloves, then ran toward the Ferris Wheel. I catapulted off of Cubot and landed on the frame of the wheel, ready to take on one of my strangest encounters yet…

. . .

"All right, you sad excuse for an amusement park ride!" I cried, valiantly leaping onto the frame of the Ferris Wheel. "Your creator says you're a big boy…but you're nothing more than a big _toy_ to me!"

It howled back with a loud whistle-like screech, and I assumed that was its battle cry. Not very amused, I rubbed my nose and nonchalantly discarded the ear-splitting sound.

"Eh, sorry buddy. You're going to have to try harder if you want to scare me off. I'll even give you some pointers! Get two eyes instead of one- it creates a more menacing effect when you have two eyes to glower condescendingly with."

Clearly the Rotatatron didn't enjoy my well-intentioned advice, because it sent its right arm lashing at me and stabbed the ground where I once stood with a harsh scraping of steel. I cringed as I back-flipped away, alighting on my feet and brushing my hand through my quills.

"Okay, looks aren't everything, but I'm sure you've heard that brain is better than brawn!"

I ran around the length of the frame, the Rotatatron constantly trying to grab me and crush me against the ground. Eventually I pushed off of the frame and landed cautiously on a platform, slowly rising away from the reach of my opponent.

"And when it comes to brains, you come up short, pal."

It swatted at me again; I blinked and ducked, feeling my quills bounce with the gust of wind that accompanied the strike.

"Wow, Eggman was right! You robots are sensitive! I don't even think Knuckles would get this mad at a few harmless remarks! …well, harmless ones anyway. I haven't even busted out my heavy artillery yet."

I knew it was set to charge again, so I waited until the platform I was on was towards the top, then I leaned back and fell over the edge, crouching into a ball position. I was aimed dead at the Rotatatron's single eye, and considering that seemed like the only damageable spot, I went for it. Homing in and sharpening my quills for impact, I crashing into its center, sending it into a fit while I uncurled and dismounted back on the bottom of the frame.

"Well, just gotta pull off that stunt about two more times and it'll be all good!"

The "Big Boy" howled again with the mechanical scream, making me cringe and also putting me off my guard. The Rotatatron suddenly released several neon pink ninja stars, hurling them towards me without my knowing. Their whizzing sound was the only thing that tipped me off, as my ear flicked just before a searing pain shot through the right side of my head.

The blow sent me staggering around before tripping over my own two feet, stumbling to my knees in a haphazard pile. My hand instantly flew to my head, trying to massage the now throbbing pain away.

"Ow…I feel like that should've hurt worse…maybe Shadow is right and I_ do_ have a thick skull."

…_nah. _

I forced myself to my feet again, hardly able to leap away when the Rotatatron's hand struck again. Nearly tripping backward, I glanced up- it was readying more ninja stars to chuck at me, but what caught my eye more than the neon pink of the blades was the fact that there was a Wisp on one of the platforms.

And instantly, I snapped to action.

"How'd I miss that before?"

Adrenaline pumped through my veins, becoming my fuel source and numbing the throbbing in my head. The new blades came at me now, but I remained attentive, ricocheting swiftly from platform to platform, letting the blades ram themselves out of existence.

"Now for the alien!" I exclaimed, landing on the platform with the alien capsule. The Wisp within was cyan in color, but its expression lacked the bold bravado most of the others had. I cracked the capsule open as soon as I had the chance, though the alien didn't fly out right away. It gave me a wary glance, then slowly lifted itself out of confinement. It just continued to stare at me, and I was about to give it some words to cheer it up, but the darned spinning blades were coming back again.

"Step off!" I yelled, collapsing into ball form and charging up speed. Once I had gained enough momentum, I propelled myself forward with a ton of velocity, colliding head on with the blade and grinding against it, like pink and blue gears turning with each other in midair.

"I won't let you wail on me again, and I'm certainly not going to let you harm these aliens! I don't know why Eggman's rounding them all up yet, but I'm just one step closer to getting to the bottom of it!"

The Wisp's eyes seemed to grow with my proclamation, and my spin-off with the pink blade quickly came to an end, as I struck it and threw it towards the ground. Doing a somersault, I redirected my course at the Rotatatron's eye and rammed into it again. Bits and pieces flew away from it, resulting in me being rewarded with another primal yet mechanical yelp. It churned against my eardrums, and as I recoiled from the sound, it finally managed to strike me in the back.

"Woah!"

It swatted me off the platform like I was some insignificant fly –which was very degrading, by the way- and I plummeted headfirst back toward the bottom of the Ferris Wheel's frame.

_I'm a little top-heavy, I guess. _

"Way to go, Sonic. Only you can get all bruised up from a tourist attraction."

I let out a moan as I lay sprawled out across the metal frame, feeling a little disoriented and dizzy from my fall…though I'm sure the impact assisted with that as well. I felt like just laying there a little bit longer, but that would only allow the "Big Boy" plenty of chances to attack.

And just when I needed it, I received four perfect words of reassurance.

"_I believe in you!"_

Must've hit my head one time too many…because I could've sworn I had heard Cream.

"What the…?"

I blinked my eyes a bit, and I almost thought I'd seen her standing over me, her bright eyes staring down at me encouragingly, but once my vision cleared, I found it was only the alien from earlier.

"I'm your friend, little guy," I stated, gradually smiling as I push myself to my feet again, up and kicking once again. "I may be hearing things and seeing people, but I know what I've gotta do…I might need your help in the process though. Can you do that for me?"

As if the alien was going in for an answer, it started to lean forward, but the Big Boy decided to get antsy again. Its clawed appendage swept rather low in another attempt to dispatch me, but the Wisp quickly flew at me, absorbing into me and charging me up with unadulterated cyan color-power.

With a smirk and a whisper of a single word, I had this battle in the bag.

"LASER!"

The Ferris Wheel lit up in a cyan blaze, with me rebounding off the sides of the frame until I shot straight through the Rotatatron's weak point, thrashing it with so much energy that it finally couldn't function anymore. I let out a whoop of victory, transforming back to normal, landing on the frame, and doing victory laps around the length of the rim.

The Rotatatron suddenly burst into a thousand rings, all of them bouncing around, but only some of them making it to me and gifting me with snippets of energy. Not that I felt I needed it, as I was still buzzing from the laser charge.

"Eh, that wasn't too bad of a battle…Eggman's had flashier creations though. I could probably have done it again in one strike if I wanted to!"

The cyan alien popped outta me after hearing that and gave me a disbelieving look. Rolling my eyes with a smirk, I acquiesced.

"Okay, fine…I could defeat it in one shot with some alienated help, all right?"

The alien was more impressed with that answer, and I just shrugged sheepishly in retaliation.

. . .

A while later, after I had covered every last inch of the Resort to sweep up any leftover aliens -and checked out all stores and restaurants while I was at it- I decided it to finally get back to Tails. It was time to see what he was up to while I was running around. I would have completely missed him if I didn't hear him mutter, "Okay, just tighten this last bolt…"

_He was still fixing that machine. Should've known._

I'd raced past him in a furious huff, backtracking via moon walking. Stopping in front of him, I stared at him curiously. He noticed me dusting my glove off and trying to act aloof, so he finally pulled away from whatever he was currently adjusting.

"…oh _there_ you are! Where'd you run off to?"

I gave a casual response, which included hand motions to match. "I did a little shopping, grabbed a bite to eat, and trashed a giant killer robot."

"Oh really? They have shopping here too?"

"This place has everything!"

_We've gotten to the point where thrashing robots is a more mundane task than shopping, apparently. _

I shook my head, returning my attention to the gizmo Tails was still fiddling with. "Hey, so, how's your translator thingy coming along?"

"I think it's done. It's in binary code, so only I can read it." He stood up from his toolbox, pressed a button, and turned the translator on. "Okay, ask away!"

I coughed and turned to the alien. "Who-are-you, and-what-is-hap-pen-ing-to-your-peo-ple?"

Just_ in case he couldn't understand me clearly._

The alien spun around, spewing out the gibberish that was completely incoherent. Tails stared at his translator and nodded when something came on screen.

"Okay, he says his name is "Talks-a-lot"…and he's from a faraway soda…where flowers water them with dances."

_Apparently "Talks-a-lot" and I were thinking the same thing, because we both face palmed_.

"Yeah, uh…" I started to admit, scratching my ear then pointing at the translator. "I think your machine still has some bugs."

"Yeah, I think I can figure it out though!" He pushed a button again and read the screen once more. "Okay, he says his name is Yacker. He's from a race of beings called 'Wisps'."

"Lisps?" I asked incredulously. Tails shook his head.

"No, Wisps. With a 'W'."

"Yeah, I'll just stick with 'aliens' if that's okay with everybody."

Tails seemed a little confused by the comment, but he shrugged and let it slide, continuing to read his translator. "Sure, so anyway, they are either being used for their magical powers by an evil man…or to make underwear to be worn by salad."

Yacker and I exchanged looks, Yacker waving one of his arms in front of his face.

_Either he was saying _I_ stunk, or Tails' translating did._

We both just shook our heads at him as he continued to read.

"I just hear 'save them, save them!' over and over again!"

Yacker ceased looking irritated and suddenly assumed a begging pose. Seeing his dejected face made me rake my mind for an idea, and almost instantly I snapped my fingers. Recalling something, I smirked to myself and shared what I had with Yacker and Tails.

"When I was running around trashing robots-and shopping," I added quickly with a glint in my eye. "I saw a map that had a couple of interesting places. Think I'll go check 'em out, and maybe save some aliens!"

Yacker broke out into cheers as Tails just smiled at me. With how things were going now, how hard could this be?

. . .

Cubot groaned as he dragged a large yellow trashcan over the place where I had broken the Ferris Wheel, now nothing more but shambles strewn over our little battle field. It was quite a scene…and a mess.

_I wonder if Eggman has a warranty on his own creations._

"The boss man said to wrangle up every piece o' this mess," he grumbled. "When you consider what we're doing from a robot's point of view, it's actually pretty gruesome."

"Don't think about it," Orbot suggested nonchalantly as he continued to sweep, hardly deterred.

"Iffin' ya say so."

As Cubot chucked a piece of the robot into the trash to be recycled, Orbot started frantically looking around.

"I'm missing an arm. Have you got an arm?"

"Naw. But really, how much could it matter?"

"…I guess it can't matter much."

_Yeah, it couldn't matter at all if it was lodged into the side of the park and causing an ominous purple gas to be released into space._

* * *

**And we are done with the Tropical Resort act! Next time, we putter off to the Sweet Mountain, where Sonic's appetite for adventure grows and more of what's going on is revealed piece by piece...**


End file.
